Veteran offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz was cut by the Detroit Lions after, as he put it, the rookies on the team played him out of a job.
He understood that it was just business, and it wasn’t anything personal. Schwartz had high praise for the professional manner in which the Lions broke the unfortunate news to him.
“I mean, they were the most professional organization I ever played for when it came to that,” he explained. “Getting cut is never fun. I went upstairs and talked to them about it. They were about as great as they could have been when it comes to losing your job. They were always honest with me, which I really appreciated.”
Lions draft picks Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow, and Joe Dahl all had solid training camps, which made Schwartz expendable. He had particular praise for Decker, who emerged as one of the NFL’s top rookie offensive lineman by year’s end.
“The young guys were playing that well,” Schwartz said. “You could say, easily, he was the best rookie left tackle in the NFL.”
Schwartz also had high praise for Glasgow, who started the season on the bench but who improved to making 11 starts as a rookie
“I thought Graham was going to be good based on what he did in camp,” Schwartz said, “but he improved a lot. He got an opportunity to be a guard, but he can be a guard or center. He’s just very physical.”